Abstract

Two patients with terminal renal failure and severe diabetes mellitus have received combined cadaver kidney and pancreatic duodenal transplants. One patient survived for 4½ months and did not require insulin to maintain the blood glucose in the normal range while the other lived only 3 weeks. This procedure is soundly based on experimental studies in the dog which show that [1] pancreatectomized dogs can survive for long periods on pancreatic duodenal homografts; [2] when venous drainage of the pancreatic homograft is into the venous system rather than the portal venous system, there is no adverse effect on the activity of